The present invention relates generally to agricultural equipment and, more particularly, to an apparatus to control the delivery of product, such as seed, from a main product storage container to multiple auxiliary storage containers.
Modern agricultural seeding machines or seeders are commonly equipped with a main seed hopper that provides seed (or other granular product) in a forced air stream to multiple auxiliary seed hoppers. Each auxiliary seed hopper may be associated with a single seed dispensing unit or with multiple seed dispensing units, generally constituting a row of seed or planting units. In this latter configuration, each seed unit may also have its own seed hopper to which seed is fed from the auxiliary seed hopper for that row of seed units. Generally, the seed is entrained in an air/seed mixture that is delivered from the main seed hopper to the auxiliary seed hoppers.
In a conventional arrangement, multiple hoses will be run from the main seed hopper to the individual auxiliary seed hoppers. Because the distance the auxiliary seed hoppers are from the main hopper is different for each of the auxiliary seed hoppers, the length of the hoses connecting the auxiliary seed hoppers to the main hopper also varies. This can create an unbalanced air distribution between hose runs of different lengths. More particularly, the shortest hose may get a disproportionate amount of air compared to the longest hose.
In addition, there is a hose extending from the main seed hopper for each row of seed units as the auxiliary seed hoppers for each row of seed units will typically have a dedicated hose connecting it to the main seed hopper. For machines have a large number of rows, this can lead to a relatively large number of hoses. This drawback is exacerbated as the number of rows of seed units increases for larger seeding machines.
One proposed solution has been to use a single hose to provide an air/seed mixture to more than one auxiliary seed hopper using a splitter or diverter. An example of such a configuration is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,010, which describes a splitter having an inlet that receives an air/seed mixture, a primary outlet, and a secondary from which the air/seed mixture is dispensed. In one embodiment, the splitter is constructed such that the secondary outlet is arranged at an obtuse angle as defined by the angle between the flow velocity vector of the air/seed mixture entering the splitter at the inlet and the flow velocity vector of the air/seed mixture exiting the splitter through the secondary outlet. The patent specifically teaches that an obtuse angle of 120 degrees, and further teaches orienting the secondary outlet vertically and at the obtuse angle so that the flow must turn a sharp angle and slightly reverse itself to flow in the vertical orientation. According to the patent, this geometry helps prevent blockage within the hose.
While the splitter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,010 may offer some benefits over other conventional splitter designs, it is believed that further performance benefits may be attained with a splitter having a different design.